Sonia, Rahul to visit riot-hit Muzaffarnagar

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi will visit trouble-torn Muzaffarnagar district next week to assess the situation there.

"Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi will visit Muzaffarnagar next week to meet the riot-hit people and assess the situation there", Congress general secretary and in-charge of party affairs in the state, Madhusudan Mistry told reporters here.

Demanding stern action against all those found responsible for the Muzaffarnagar riots, he said those instigating violence cannot be allowed to go scot free on the ground that they are workers of political parties or are public servants.

To a question, Mistry said that there are many conditions for the Centre to dismiss a state government and as of now the Centre is not going to do so.

He also alleged that BJP workers from Gujarat had a hand in instigating riots in Muzaffarnagar.

Demanding setting up of relief camps for riot-hit people, he said if the state government did not know how to run them, they could be given tips on it.

The Congress leader said that it is wrong to say that there had been no riots in Gujarat since 2002.

"After 2002, 52 people have been killed in Gujarat in such incidents", he claimed, adding that in the run up to elections, Gujarat government first ignored minor incidents and later when things went out of control, they gave it the shape of communal riots.